Custom-built large storage VMware hosts

Deploy ESXi host with large internal storage

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We required lots of storage for new projects. Server room space is limited, and the rack was nearly full, so the best option was to retire two older ESXi hosts and replace them with a single host that met the storage needs. With a limited budget, we opted to build it ourselves instead of buying a pre-built system. Using Supermicro components, a Xeon processor, 128GB RAM, and a 16 x 3TB SAS RAID 10 array, the sytem was assembled. The result was a 3U system with more processing power and memory than anything we already had, and 22TB usable storage, with room to add a second processor and double the RAM.

Since we already used ESXi, ESXi 5.1 was used as the hypervisor. Windows Server 2008 R2 was used as a file server, and using spanned disks, a 20TB share was created, leaving space for other virtual machines. This system performed so well, a few months later we built a second one. Both are members of a VMware Essentials cluster, and each run around 15 virtual machines. Some of our most intensive terminal servers have been migrated onto them, and the end result has actually been less hardware in the server room.